When There Is No One Else To Trust
by LoneRunner
Summary: Katniss is forced into a special version of the games, a version in which only one person from each district is sent into the arena. When Katniss is forced into the arena with no ally, will she stay to herself? Or will she find the one thing she didn't expect to in the arena: trust.


**Author's Note: I do not own anything but the plot of this fanfiction**

Chapter 1:Always a Bright Side, Right?

She looked out the window to a bright, clear day, a day that in a normal world would be a cause for rejoice. However in the country of Panem, this day mocked its citizens with false promises of hope and whispers of happiness on the wind. Katniss looked up at the sky bitterly, thinking about all the ways that both her and her little sister should be able to spend their time. But with a dead father, a catatonic mother, and the Reaping today those daydreams would never be a reality. Sighing in resignation and standing up Katniss prepared for the day. She had already gone hunting with Gale earlier, and tried to shoot as much game as possible on the off chance her name was chosen today. _Well, maybe not so "off" _Katniss thought with a tinge of morbid humor. With her name in the bowl over thirty times today she had a greater chance of her name being drawn than the rest of the girls from her district.

_The only comforting part about my name being in there so many times is knowing that Prim is only in there once_, Katniss thought as she looked out the doorway of the room she was sitting in and saw Prim sitting down in the kitchen getting her hair braided by their mother. _She seems to be holding up better than usual. Maybe she's finally coming back to us_. Although as much as Katniss wanted this to be true, she couldn't allow herself to believe this. Her mother had neglected them too long for Katniss to ever look at her the same way again. She couldn't understand how a person could love someone so much that when the object of his or her love died, the person was left broken.

"Come on Katniss, we have to leave!" Prim said, effectively snapping Katniss out of her inner thoughts and bringing her back to the real world.

She smiled gently at Prim and said, "Of course little Duck, we'll leave right now. Better not keep the capital waiting" she said, a hint of bitterness and sarcasm shining through her statement.

Walking out the front door, Katniss shot their mother a look before taking a tight hold on Prim's hand and walking down to the courtyard.  
_

"There's a little twist to the games this year!" Effie Trinket announces to the crowd in an overly happy tone. "This year, only one tribute will be given from each District" she says as the courtyard breaks out into quiet murmurs. _One tribute?_ they all think to themselves as they stare up at Effie, who is about to continue speaking. "Both the tributes will be chosen, as is customary. However, after both are on stage, the district will then proceed to choose which to send into the arena. Remember, with only one tribute representing you, you want the strongest you can possibly manage". The crowd just stares back at her, anger simmering in their eyes. _Of course the Capitol will make us choose which kid to send to their death_, they think bitterly.

"Primrose Everdeen!" Effie Trinket cried out in a loud, high-pitched voice after reaching into the girls tribute bowl full of thousands of slips with a name on every single one of them.

_Thousands of slips of papers with a name on every single one of them, and the ONE slip that has Prims name is the one chosen._

Katniss stares in disbelief as people start to move away from her little sister, and as her sister starts to make her way out to the middle of the courtyard to walk to the stage Katniss is released from whatever stupor she was in and yells "I VOLUNTEER! I VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE".

The courtyard, already silent in sad acceptance that they were sending an innocent twelve year old off to be slaughtered, turned to look at this strong willed girl who always put family above everything else in her life. As she made her way onto the stage, steady as stone and eyes burning with an inferno so strong they had to look away due to the sheer intensity found within those stormy depths, the crowd couldn't help but think _she might be able to do this. If anyone in this district has a chance at winning these games, its her._

Katniss stood up on the stage with her head held high, already starting to think of the strategies she could try and employ in the arena to advance herself. She would not break. She would not give the Capitol the satisfaction of seeing her fall apart.

As she stood there looking out over the crowd with that fire burning in her eyes, Effie Trinket pulls out the boys' tribute. Katniss hadn't caught the name, but looking at him as everyone moved away like they had to Prim she saw the he was a twelve year old boy from the Seam. His telltale grey eyes, so similar to hers in color yet so different due to the lack of fire burning within their depths looked around in shock, and he seemed as though he would throw up on the spot.

Before he could even take one step, Katniss had walked up to the front of the stage and said to both the little boy and the assembled crowd "Do not come up here. I volunteer to be the single tribute to go into the arena. I will not sit here on stage and force all of you to choose between this boy and me. It will be me going into the Games".

And as she said it her eyes burned even brighter, forcing everyone to be drawn to her stare. They couldn't fathom that this girl was so strong in the face of so much danger, but they would be forever grateful to this girl in front of them for saving them from having to choose between two children. And as they stood there looking up at her with her head held high and shoulders set in determination, they all kissed the three middle fingers of their left hand and held it up to her.

She stood there and accepted the age-old sign of respect known in her district as everyone assembled in the courtyard gave it to her, and then Effie took her away to the Justice building for her goodbyes.

_Only these won't be goodbyes, _Katniss thought fiercely as she walked behind Effie. _No, these will simply be a see you later._


End file.
